Exposition of the Principal Scriptures Used in our English Liturgy, Part 9 – Part 11
Venite exultemus Domino.
LEt vsus worship and fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker: not before a Crucifix, not before a rotten Image, not before a faire picture of a foule Saint: these are not our makers, we made them, they made not vsus. Our God, vntounto whom we must sing, in whom wee must reioyce, before whom we must worship, is a great King aboue all gods: hee is no god of lead, no god of bread, no brazen god, no wooden god; we must not fall downe and worship our Ladie, but our Lord; not any Martyr, but our Maker; not any Saint, but our Sauiour: O come let vsus sing vntounto the Lord, let vsus heartily reioyce in the strength of our saluation.
Wherewith: Wherewith.with voyce, Let vsus sing; with soule, let vsus heartily reioyce; with hands and knees, let vsus fall downe and kneele, Comely gestures in the Church.with all that is within vsus, with all that is without vsus; he that made all, must be worshipped with all, especially when we come before his presence.
Here let vsus make a stand, and behold the wise choice of the Church, assigning this place to this Psalme, which exciteth vsus to come to the Temple quietly and ioyntly, Come let vsus sing; and when wee are come, to demeane our selues in this holie place cheerefully, heartily, reuerently. I would faine know of those who despise our Canons, as not agreeable to the Canon of holy Bible, whether their vnmannerly sitting in the time of diuine seruice be this kneeling; whether their standing bee this falling downe; whether they giuegive God their heart, when as they will not affoord him so much as their hat; whether their lowring vponupon their brethren, bee singing to the Lord; whether their dutie required here, bee to come in, to goe out, to stay in the Temple, without any respect of persons, or reuerence to place.
I would such as doe imitate the Turks ineSum. conser. pag. 27. habite, would likewise follow them in humble comportment while they pray:fAugerius Busbequius legat. Turcicae epist. 3. Magna cum Ceremonia, & attentione sacris suis intersunt Turcae: nam si vel digito scalpant caput, perisse sibi precationis fructum …rbitrantur: quid e…im si cum Bassis sermo tibi habendus, ergo multo magis si cum Deo. Thinke of this yee that forget God, hee will not bee mocked, his truth is eternall, heauen and earth shall passe, but not one …ot of his word shall passe: if an Angell from heauen, or diuell on earth, if any priuate spirit shall deliuer vntounto you rules of behauiour in the Church, contrarie to this Canon of Gods owne spirit, let him be accursed, Anathema. Let vsus sing, let vsus worship, let vsus, who feare God and honour the King, fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker.
Thus much of Dauids exhortation to praise God. The reasons why we should praise, follow, Set downe
First briefly, God is our Creator; therefore let vsus worship and fall downe and kneele before the Lord our maker, vers. 6. He is our Redeemer; therefore let vsus sing vntounto the Lod, let vsus heartily reioyce in the strength of our saluation: vers. 1.
Secondly, more at large from his
Mercies in generall: vers. 3. 4. 5.
Iudgements.
For the Lord is a great God:] Most mightie, almightie, able to doe whatsoeuer he will, and more then he will too. See the Creed.
In himselfe so great, that the heauen of heauens cannot containe him, much lesse any barren braine inwombe him: and therefore Dauid here being not able to set downe the least peece of his greatnes in the positiue degree, comes to the comparatiue, shewing what he is in comparison of other: A great King aboue all gods.
As being more excellent and mightie then any thing, or all things that hauehave the name of God,
Whether they be Gods in
Title,
gElo…im. Psal. 8. 5.Angels in heauen.
hPsal. 82. 6.Princes on earth.
Opinion,
AsiColoss. 3. 5. gold is the couetous mans god,kPhilip. 3. 19. bellicheere the Epicures god, anlPsalm. 96. 5. Idoll the superstitious mās god.
Now the Lord is the King of all gods in title, for he made them: of all gods in opinion, for he can destroy them.mHeb. 1. 14. Angels are his messengers, andnProu. 8. 15. Princes his ministers, alloRom. 13. 1. power is of the Lord. The manner of getting kingdomes is not alwaies of God, because it is sometime by wicked meanes; yet the power it selfe is euer from God, and therefore stiled inpPsa…m. 50. 1. scripture, the God of gods, as theqEcclesiast. 5. 7. Wise man saith, higher then the highest: for religion and reason tell vsus, that of all creatures in heauen an Angell is the greatest; of all things on earth, anrTertullian ad Scapulam: Omnibus maior dum solo deo minor. Emperour is the greatest: but the Lord (as you see) is greater then the greatest, as being absolute Creator of the one, and maker of the other:sAugustin. in locum. Quantus Deus est qui Deos facit! How great a God is hee that makes gods, yea & marres them too at his pleasure! surely this is a great God, & a great king aboue all gods. And therfore in what estate soeuer thou be, possesse thy soule with patience, reioyce in God, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might: feare no man, no diuell, no other god, he y• is greater thē al these shal be thy defence; he will performe whatsoeuer in his word he did promise concerning this life & the next.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth] A reason to proue that God is a great King aboue all gods: he is a great God, because a king of gods: and he is a King of gods, because in his hand are all the corners of the world, subiect to his power and prouidence.
The most mighty Monarch on earth is king as it were but of a molehill, a Lord of some one angle: but in Gods hand are all the corners of the earth, and the strength of the hils. i. of most puissant potentates, in comparison of whō al other are low valleyes; I say the strength & height of the hils are his.
Antichrist doth extoll himselfet2. Thess. 2. 4. aboue all that is called God: and the Pope doth make himselfe Lord of Lords, vsurping theuHarding confut. of Iewels Apolog. part. 2. cap. 3. whole world for his diocesse: yea hee hath a triple kingdome, according to his triple crowne; Supernall, extended to heauen, in canonizing Saints; Infernall, extended to hell in freeing soules out of Purgatorie; Terrestriall, extended ouer the whole earth, as being vniuersall Bishop of the Catholique Church. But alas, vaine man, hee is but a …ox in an hole, many corners of the earth are not his; England (God be praised) is not his, Scotland, Holland, Denmarke not his, a great part of France, the greatest part of Germany none of his; many thousands in Portugall, Italy, Spaine, none of his; the great Cham, the Persian, the Turke, the least whereof is greater then himselfe, none of his. And albeit all the Kings of the earth should be drunken with his abomination, yet should he bee pastor vniuersall of the Church, but as the diuell isxIob. 12. 31. prince of the world; not by his owne might, but by others weakenesse, as SaintyRom. 6. 16. Paul said, He is our master to whom we giuegive our selues as seruants to obey.
So likewise the gods of the superstitious Heathē hauehave not all the corners of the world: for, as themselues ingeniously confesse, some were gods of y• water only, some of the wind, some of corne, some of fruite,zAugust. de ciuit. lib. 4. cap. 8. Nec omnia cōmemoro, quia me piget quod illos non pudet. As Heretikes hauehave so many Creeds, as heads: so the Gentiles (asaLib. 1. aduersus Symachum. Prudentius obserued) had so many things for their god, as there were things y• were good.
Quic quid humus, pelagus, coelum, mirabile gignunt: id dux…re Deos, colles, freta flumina, flammas.
So that their god is not as our God,bDeut. 32. 31. euen our enemies being Iudges. Other hold some parcels of the earth vnderunder him, and some lay claime to the whole by vsurpation. But all the corners of the world are his by right of creation, as it followeth in the next verse.
The sea is his, for hee made it.] An argument demonstratiue, to shew that all the world is subiect to his power: and therefore in the Creed, after Almightie, followeth instantly, Maker of heauen and earth.
If any shall demaund why Dauid nameth heere first and principally the Sea, before all other creatures: answere may be giuen out ofcLib. 32. nat. hist. in prooem. Ipsa se natura vincit numerosis modis. Plinie; God, who is wonderfull in all things, is most wonderfully wonderfull in the Sea. Whether we consider (asdPsalm. 104. Dauid elsewhere:)
The
1. Situation of it.
2. Motion.
3. Innumerable creatures in it.
4. Wonderfull art of sailing on it.
Yet God in the beginningeGen. 1. 9. made this vnruly foaming fuming beast, and euer since ruled it at his becke: for hee fPsal. 65. 7.stilleth the raging of the Sea, and the noise of his waues;gIob. 38. 8. hee shutteth vp this barking curre in the channell, as in a kennell; he laieth vp the deepe, as in ahPsalm. 33. 7. treasure house, saying to the waters, iIob 38. 11.Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall it stay thy proud waues.
Hitherto concerning the greatnes, and goodnes of God in generall. Now Dauid in the seuenth verse proceedes, intimating that the Lord of all in common, is our God in speciall. Hee is the Lord our God, as being the people of his pasture, and the sheepe of his hands: that is, himselfe doth feede and fauour the Church in a more particular sort, committing this charge to none other. See preface of the Decalogue.
The last reason is from iudgement: for God vseth all meanes to winne men vntounto him. The summe whereof is, that wee must not harden our hearts, and obstinately settle our selues in sinne, as our forefathers in the wildernesse: but rather heare the voice of the Lord speaking vntounto vsus out of his word all the day long, the whole time of our life generally, but on the Sabbath day more specially, le…t in his anger hee sweare that wee shall not enter into his rest. Reade this historie, Numb. 14. Exod. 17: for, ask1. Cor. 10. 11. Paul doth teach, these things are written for our ensample, vponupon whom the ends of the world are come. Lege histori…m, ne fias historia. The iudgements of God are like thunder claps, poena ad vnum, terror adom…es. As in a Common-weale, places of execution are publike, ad terrorem populi, because (as Plato said) Nemo prudens punit quia peccatum est, sed ne peccetur. And another ancient Philosopher to the same purpose: Malefici non pereunt vt pereant, sed vt pereundo alios deterreant. That the lSeneca lib. 1. de Ira. cap. 6.State which had no benefit by their life, should make vse of their death. In like manner, almightie God in this huge Theater of the world, doth make some spectacles vntounto other, all of vsus being either actors, or spectators: and so by consequence must take example by other, or else make example to other. See Epist. Dom. 9. post Trin.
Te Deum.
THat Hymnes accurately framed by deuout men according to the word, may be sung in the Church with the Psalmes of Dauid, and other spirituall songs taken out of the word; we can alleage precept, and example: Precept, Colos. 3. 16. Admonish your selues in Psalmes and Hymnes, &c. mIn loc. & Caluin. Instit. lib. 3. cap. 20. §. 32.Marlorat doth construe this of singing in the Church: and Haymo, that Hymnes were godly songs, inuented by the Christians of that age. For Gods holy Church hath vsed this custome from thenEus…bius hist. l…b. 2. cap. 7. D…onysius de diuin. nom. c. 4. Concilium Tolet an. 4. can. 12. Primitiue times, euen vntounto this present day.
Concerning Te Deum in particular: it is approued by oBellarm. de bon…s o…cribus in particular. lib. 1. cap. 12. & 14.Luther, and held by ourpFox Martyr. fol 799. Martyrs a good Creed: (as it is thought generally) composed by those two great lights of the Church, Ambrose qVigner answer to Barronius. pag. 17.who was the most resolute Bishop, and Augustine rPerkins Treat. Conscience. c. 2.who was the most iudicious Doctor of all the Fathers.
It is reported by Dacius, a reuerend Bishop of Millane, that in his time, who liued vnderundersGreg. lib. 3. Dialog. cap. 4. Magd…burg. Cent. 6. col. 702. Iustinian, tBarron. tom. 7. fol. 294.anno 538. this Hymne was receiued and vsed in the Church: which argueth it of greater antiquity, then vpstart Popery. The Nouelist (asuCon. Faustum lib. 22. cap. 34. Augustine writes of Faustus the Manichee) Vel non intell…gend… repre…endit, vel reprehendendo non intelligit: Either too much passion, or else too little knowledge.
Benedicite omnia opera.
TH… Canti…e is a rapsodie, gathered here and there from diu…s Psalmes of Dauid, as thexof the Church Bible. marginall notes indigitate: cited often by the learned and ancientyCyp. serm. de lapsis & orat. Dom. fathers, and not censured for it by the Lutheran Historiographers. Cent. 5. colum. 219.
Imprinted at M…elburgh with the Dauidicall Psalmes in English meeter:August. de Ci…it. lib. 11. cap. 9. & de natura boni, cap. 16. Chrysost. hom. 4. ad pop. an honour denied vntounto the Church Psalter in prose. In a word, I finde this Hymne lesse martyred then the rest, and therefore dimisse it, as Christ did the woman, Iohn 8. Where be thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? no more doe I: goe thy way.